WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) -- After spending several months flying high in harnesses over the Cape Fear River, roaming the streets of downtown Wilmington and swimming to the depths of Screen Gems Studio's water tank, the stars of "Iron Man 3" are suiting up once again… in black ties and dresses that is. The world premiere of the Marvel saga is tonight in Hollywood, and the film's stars are coming clean about the movie's main man.

"I think Tony (Stark) has had a very human journey for someone who's part of this Marvel universe," star Robert Downey Jr. said of his title character Iron Man/Tony Stark.

"In this movie, you really see his cracks," said Gwyneth Paltrow, who plays Stark's love interest Pepper Potts. "You really see the psychology behind why he is going through, in a way, the metamorphosis he needs to go through."

"Seeing him be able to flex as he goes through all of these different challenges and maintain his wit and integrity in some way," Downey said. "He didn't really have integrity when we first met him and then he gained it as he used technology to save his own skin."

Paltrow credits the fame of Iron Man to her leading man.

"I think the reason that 'Iron Man' is so successful is because... it's that classic archetypal figure of somebody with incredible light and darkness, and that's the story of all of us," she said.

Paltrow says that although she is a hard customer to please, she was pleasantly surprised by how this movie turned out.

"The stunts are all great, and the CGI and the bells and whistles, done. We know that's amazing," Paltrow said. "But the bones of the movie, it's a really good movie, and again, the emotional life in the movie is real and deep and it's romantic and I was really amazed by it when I saw it."

And you won't have to wait much longer to see our beloved city on the big screen. "Iron Man 3" opens in theatres next Friday, May 3.

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